Lawmaker seeks leniency for Philly woman who mistakenly carried gun into N.J.

 New Jersey Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick seeks leniency for  Philadelphia woman who brought  gun she's permitted to carry in Pennsylvania into New Jersey. (Phil Gregory/WHYY)

New Jersey Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick seeks leniency for Philadelphia woman who brought gun she's permitted to carry in Pennsylvania into New Jersey. (Phil Gregory/WHYY)

The top Republican in New Jersey’s Assembly says it defies common sense to make a woman with no criminal record face a mandatory prison sentence for bringing a licensed handgun into the state.

Shaneen Allen, a mother of two from Philadelphia, would not have been guilty of anything in 30 other states when she crossed into New Jersey with a gun she’s permitted to carry in Pennsylvania, said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union.

Bramnick said Tuesday he’s pleased the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office is reviewing its decision to deny Allen entry into a pretrial-intervention program.

“It tugs at my heart to think about a woman going to jail under these circumstances, and I’m convinced that the county prosecutor will probably see that a reasonable outcome would be something other than state prison time,” he said.

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If an agreement is not reached that will allow Allen to avoid a prison sentence, Bramnick said he’ll urge legislative leaders to call an emergency session to vote on a measure giving prosecutors more discretion in such cases.

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